The Role of Physical Activity and School Physical Education in Enhancing School Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction.

José E Moral-Garcia,Alfredo Jiménez,Antonio S Cabaco,Alfredo Jiménez-Eguizabal

doi:10.3390/ijerph18041689

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the role of school satisfaction on life satisfaction, according to gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity (PA) level. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, carried out on 2823 adolescents (1396 boys and 1427 girls), aged between 12 and 16. A specific questionnaire to measure life satisfaction (Brief Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS)), a questionnaire to measure satisfaction with school (“Life circumstances of Young people: School”), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used to analyze PA practice. Gender, age, and BMI were used as control variables. In general, the main results showed that school satisfaction had a clear role in life satisfaction. Similarly, the findings allowed us to conclude that the role of school satisfaction on life satisfaction was more evident in male school children, those who were older, or those who have a higher BMI. The regular practice of PA enhanced school satisfaction and its role on life satisfaction. Therefore, it is very important to assess the importance of school satisfaction as a determinant of quality of life and the adoption of healthy habits, recognizing the fundamental role of teachers in this regard.

Highlights

From the epistemological approach of positive psychology, emphasis has been placed on the development of personal virtues and strengths for the achievement of higher levels of happiness or perceived well-being [1,2,3,4,5]
The results have shown that there is a high correlation between average grades and personal wellbeing [17,18], and that students flow when the perception of ability and challenge of the task is comparable [19,20], and that life satisfaction decreases with experiences of victimization [21]
We report the results when interacting the moderators with School 4 only for parsimony reasons, but consistent results were found when interacting with the other measures of school satisfaction

Summary

Introduction

From the epistemological approach of positive psychology, emphasis has been placed on the development of personal virtues and strengths for the achievement of higher levels of happiness or perceived well-being [1,2,3,4,5]. The philosophy of the Aulas Felices program [1] aims to demonstrate the applicability of positive psychology to the educational field. It is based on the operationalization of well-being, combining the five keys of the model indicated above: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievements. Empirical studies in this field [9] have verified the effectiveness of the Happy Classrooms Program in psychological well-being, school aggression, and positive class climate, with results that find improvements in all three parameters by increasing levels of mindfulness. The operationalization of the Seligmanian construct of happiness in its first formulation, or its greater dimensionality later as well-being [8], is closely linked to life satisfaction (LS) as the synthesis of the components that integrate it (relationships, positive emotions, meaning, etc.)

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Discussion

Conclusion